REDBLACKS announce 2022 coaching staff

CFL.ca Staff

OTTAWA — The Ottawa REDBLACKS have unveiled their coaching staff in preparation for the 2022 CFL season, the team announced on Thursday.

Seven members of the team’s 2021 staff are returning, with two new coaches joining the REDBLACKS for the upcoming campaign.

•   Head Coach: Paul LaPolice
•   Defensive Coordinator: Mike Benevides
•   Special Teams Coordinator: Bob Dyce
•   Offensive Line Coach: Paul Charbonneau
•   Receivers Coach: Alex Suber
•   Quarterbacks Coach: Will Arndt
•   Defensive Line Coach: Carey Bailey
•   Linebackers Coach: Patrick Bourgon
•   Defensive Backs Coach: Greg Knox
•   Running Backs Coach: to be named

LaPolice enters his third calendar year, and second season as REDBLACKS Head Coach in 2022. The New Hampshire native arrived in the nation’s capital in December of 2019, after serving as the Offensive Coordinator for the 2019 Grey Cup Champion Winnipeg Blue Bombers. LaPolice also won a Grey Cup with the Saskatchewan Roughriders in 2007, as the team’s run game coordinator.

Benevides, also hired by the REDBLACKS in December 2019, broke into the CFL as a Defensive Assistant with the Calgary Stampeders in 2000. He went on to spend 13 years with the BC Lions, including as their Head Coach from 2012-2014, leading the team to the playoffs in each of his three seasons. A native of Toronto, Ontario, Benevides is a three-time Grey Cup Champion, winning with Calgary in 2001, and BC in 2006, and 2011.

Hailing from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Dyce came to Ottawa in 2016, beginning his 14th CFL season. His special teams units were a key component of the REDBLACKS’ first Grey Cup win that season, and that success continued into 2021, boasting the likes of CFL All-Stars DeVonte Dedmon and Richie Leone. Prior to joining the REDBLACKS, Dyce spent time with his hometown Blue Bombers, before moving on to Saskatchewan, where he won a Grey Cup in 2013, and served as Head Coach in 2015.

Charbonneau returns to the CFL for the first time since 2017, and as an Ottawa native (Orleans), he also returns home in joining the REDBLACKS for 2022. He was most recently the Co-Offensive Coordinator and Offensive Line Coach at Roosevelt University (NAIA), after stints with Washington University in St. Louis (NCAA), and Lindenwood University-Belleville (NAIA). Charbonneau, who is fluently bilingual, was with the Montreal Alouettes from 2016-2017, as the team’s Running Backs and Offensive Line Coach.

A former defensive back for the Roughriders, Blue Bombers and Toronto Argonauts, Suber enters his second season as REDBLACKS Receivers Coach. Before joining the REDBLACKS, Suber most recently coached receivers at Murray State University. Prior to that, he served as Lyon College’s defensive coordinator. Suber wrapped-up his playing career with 65 games played and 254 defensive tackles.

Arndt returns to the REDBLACKS after suiting up as one of the team’s quarterbacks from 2017-2020. He dressed for 18 games during the 2019 season, completing 103 passes for 940 yards, and three touchdowns. The Newtown, CT native starred for Western Connecticut State before making the jump to the CFL (with an Alberta Football League title with the Fort McMurray Monarchs in between). In college, Arndt set a number or records, including career passing yards (7,940), total offence (9,248), passing touchdowns (73) and total touchdowns (91). He was an Offensive Assistant with the Edmonton Elks last season.

This is Bailey’s second season as Ottawa’s Defensive Line Coach, having spent the 2019 season with the Argonauts. After a playing career with the Tennessee Volunteers (NCAA) from 1988-1991, the Bluefield, West Virginia native embarked on a coaching career that has now spanned nearly three decades. Prior to making the move to the CFL, Bailey had a long and successful collegiate coaching career, which included stops at West Virginia, Virginia Military Institute, Louisiana-Lafayette, Middle Tennessee, Oklahoma State, Minnesota, Howard, Lamar, Chattanooga and Richmond. Bailey also spent time as a coaching intern with the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons an d New York Giants via the Bill Walsh Fellowship program. He was inducted into the Morgantown High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2009.

A native of Montreal, Quebec, Bourgon is entering his second year as REDBLACKS Linebackers Coach. He joined the team for their inaugural season in 2014, as a Football Operations Intern, before becoming a Football Operations Assistant in 2015, and briefly leaving the team to take on the Defensive Coordinator and Defensive Backs Coach roles for the Diables Rouges de Villepinte in France. Bourgon rejoined the REDBLACKS as an Offensive Assistant for their Grey Cup-winning season in 2016, and transitioned to Defensive Assistant in 2018, and Assistant Defensive Backs/Special Teams Coach in 2018, before earning his current role in 2020.

Knox joined the REDBLACKS last season, following a decorated career across the Canadian university circuit that included three Vanier Cup appearances and a championship victory in 2011, as Defensive Coordinator for the McMaster Marauders. He also served as Blue Bombers Defensive Backs Coach in 2015 before returning to McMaster and then to the Alberta Golden Bears before heading to Ottawa. Knox moved to coaching following a CFL playing career from 1992-1998, in which he recorded 210 tackles, 22 interceptions, four sacks and eight fumble recoveries in 98 regular season games, all with the Calgary Stampeders.

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